Transmigration
by seaglassgirl
Summary: In another world, maybe we could end up together? Or, the six times they miss each other and the one time they manage to find each other.
1. Chapter 1

"Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,  
Seized him with my beautiful form  
That was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me."

* * *

She had read somewhere that being burned alive was one of the worst ways to die and she almost laughed at how fitting it was that they were subjected to such a painful death. He stood in front of her, his hands grabbing her shoulders and his eyes wide with fright. The flames were licking at their feet now, waiting for an opportunity to catch onto their skin and clothes. She tried to think of facts, if only to block out the fear that was leaving her immobilized.

"The fire will first burn and peel the epidermis - the thin outer layer of skin." she quoted to him, hoping that her voice sounded stronger than she felt. They were helpless, the ceiling was caving in and the wood around them was transformed into a bright inferno. When she looked around her, she only saw that the flames were getting worse, and her thoughts became muddled through the pain that engulfed her body-

"We'll be alright," he spoke loudly, trying to get his voice to reach her across the roar of the fire, "Someone will come to help. I'll get us out of here-" he kept looking around every few seconds, perhaps looking for an exit somewhere that he had missed somehow.

"You can't use chakra or walk and I have a hole in my abdomen," she explained rationally. He shook his head as the words echoed between them, she felt an indescribable pain on her right foot and she was sure that the fire was beginning to consume her body.

"Naruto will come-"

"Sasuke," she interrupted him, placing her hand on his cheek and guiding him to look her in the eyes, "I love you."

* * *

In Another Life...

* * *

Sakura Haruno became an emergency room nurse at the age of twenty-three.

She realized when she was in elementary school that she liked to help people, so her mother had helped her volunteer at the hospital in their small hometown. She spent countless weekends in that hospital bringing joy and smiles to the patients. In high school, she had practically begged to take extra science classes to get ahead in school. She didn't mind the jabs her classmates made or the whispers about the "special treatment" she was getting from the school. She had a goal and she needed to fulfill it.

She wanted to be like the nurses who snuck her candy on her shifts and helped the patients and the rosette wanted to have a kind heart and a strong mind.

She would later describe it as a need hidden deep within her, an innate desire, to heal people and to be a pillar of support.

During high school, her best friend was diagnosed with an aggressive type of cancer and Sakura watched the girl that had rescued her from bullies in first grade fade away everyday. The white blonde hair of her best friend began to fall out, her porcelain skin became fragile and yellowed, and her bright blue eyes dulled. Sakura continued to volunteer and visited the hospital everyday, despite the fact that looking at her best friend made her nauseated and haunted her dreams every night. Sakura Haruno knew that it was important to be with Ino because Ino had always been there for her.

"You're looking skinnier and skinnier everyday Sakura," Ino commented one afternoon as they looked through fashion magazines together in the hospital room. Sakura had frozen, her eyes wide and her mouth dry as her friend's comment rendered her speechless, "You think I can't tell that being here makes you want to throw up? You think our moms don't talk? I know that you haven't been able to eat dinner after seeing me and that you've lost a shit ton of weight these last few months. I may be sick, but I'm not dumb."

"I haven't lost that much weight, you pig!" She defended, her voice sadder than she intended.

"You look like a skeleton," Ino deadpanned, "And I know what that looks like, have you seen me recently?" Sakura smiled, despite the morbidity of her friend's humor. It was true, Ino, once beautiful and strong, was only skin and bones now.

"I know that it's not healthy, but after seeing you like this, I can't make myself eat." Sakura stated slowly, closing her magazine.

"Then don't visit me as much, geez!"

"Ino, it's the least I can do," Sakura pleaded, "You took care of me all those years ago that I owe it to you to visit everyday."

"You're such a sap Sakura," Ino had teased , "I have cancer and yeah maybe I am dying, but shit I can't believe that you still remember that one time I beat up the girls who bullied you. I mean that was so long ago, I barely remember it, but to you it was some monumental moment!" Sakura laughs freely as Ino continues to complain about Sakura's ridiculous memory and then the topic is dropped as Ino spots a new purse by her favorite designer.

Sakura knows that it is not just duty that brings her back to Ino's hospital room every afternoon. Sakura loves this girl, loves her best friend so much, and wants to be with her even if it makes Sakura sad. Sakura's mom had told her one day that she gave away love too freely: perhaps it's the love that she gives strangers on the street, or the kid in the back of the class who doesn't talk to anyone, or the ex-boyfriend that cheated on her. Sakura forgives and loves and gives everything she has to others because she wants to and she will continue to do this for the rest of her life.

In the end, Sakura's love doesn't make a single difference and her best friend, Ino, dies a week before high school graduation.

Sakura hates wearing black and Ino always swore that her funeral would never be drab and dull and that her mother "better dress her in that new purple dress she bought," but Sakura still wears her black sweater dress and Ino's mother buries her daughter in a grey dress.

Sakura devotes the next few years of her life striving for perfect grades and memorizing anatomy and pathophysiology so she can get into nursing school.

"Your hands are for healing, dear," her mother had told on her first day of nursing school. Two months later, her parents are killed in a car accident, leaving her completely alone. She gets through school though, despite the cloud that hangs heavily over her head every day and even though she couldn't help her parents, she hopes that one day she will be able to help someone else's parents.

She gets her dream job at a trauma center in downtown Konoha, with the condition that she will work night shifts for six months before being transferred to days. She complies knowing that her social life has been nonexistent for years and another six months of her life consumed totally by work isn't a routine she is unfamiliar with.

On her second shift at the emergency room, a helicopter flies in around three in the morning with an urgent trauma patient. A nurse across the room yells for clearance in an operating room and Sakura doesn't flinch when alarms sound throughout the hospital. She finishes wrapping gauze on her patient, an old woman who had cut open her hand slicing tomatoes, and heads to the entrance of the emergency room as the team of medics rush in.

She sees him, laid out on a stretcher, his clothes dyed with the bright red blood that continues to spurt form his chest. His chest heaves, his skin is pale and sweaty and his dark hair sticks to his forehead. There's a tattoo of a dragon that curls up his right arm and the colors that dye the man's skin seem dull compared to the crimson that continues to pool around him.

"Gang fight again, this one was the only one alive…" someone recites as another nurse and doctor take report, "Patient's name is Sasuke Uchiha, 24 years old, multiple stab wounds through the chest and abdomen…" She tries to pay attention, but to Sakura, the words begin to become muffled as his eyes flicker over to hers.

-I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU-

Onyx. Dark, endless onyx eyes meet her scared, wide eyes and for an instant time stops. She feels a sort of pull, like gravity, towards the wounded man.

She remembers, for a single second, the all-consuming fire that once overtook her body. There were endless onyx eyes, searching her face for an answer, an explanation. She remembers screams muting out the roaring of the fire. There was another person, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and an infectious smile, who had tried to help her-them- but the fire was too much. The fire was aggressive and all consuming and malevolent. She remembers calloused hands clutching her face as the heat drew closer and closer-

He opens his mouth to speak, but only a watery gargle comes out and he winces. Bright, red blood pools from his mouth he begins to gasp. His eyes leave hers and roll to the back of his head as his body begins to seize on the stretcher.

Her heart constricts in her chest as she stands and watches his body jerk.

The world comes back into focus in that instant. She wants to move towards him and help because she's supposed to be helping, to be healing, but a sharp pain in her chest blooms and she finds her feet glued to the floor. Someone, another nurse, pushes her aside and shouts begin to fill the room.

She watches, breathless, as a team of medics wheel him into an operating room. She prays, for the first time in years, that this man will recover. She doesn't know why her heart begins to pound fast and faster in her chest with every passing moment that he spends in surgery nor does she understand the feeling of emptiness that bloom in her chest at the thought of the stranger dying before she can talk to him.

He dies on the operating table.


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke Uchiha was born as the second son to the chief of police, Fugata Uchiha, and his wife: a retired district attorney, Mikoto. With dark eyes, porcelain skin, and a tuft of dark hair, an infant Sasuke was undeniably adorable. His older brother was the perfect sibling: reading books to him, taking him to the park and letting Sasuke tag along to any of Itachi's sporting events.

At the age of eight, a young Sasuke walked into his childhood home only to be greeted by corpses of his entire family. The policemen opted out of explaining to the last surviving Uchiha about the yakuza and instead, had only told the young boy with dark, watery eyes that his family's murder was an ongoing investigation. It wasn't until later, hours into the seemingly endless night that a young detective sat the young boy down and began to really express to him what happened to Sasuke's family. His father had been on the verge of a breakthrough in a major case that involved some of the country's most powerful yakuza. It was only dumb luck that Sasuke had stayed after school that day to read in the library.

It was only dumb luck that had saved his life.

There were no other relatives that could take the boy in: his extended family had slowly dwindled in the past few decades, a genetic condition causing premature blindness, brain tumors and mental health problems, and the only surviving family member, besides Sasuke himself, was serving a lifetime sentence in prison. The post traumatic stress of seeing the grotesque corpses of his family landed him in the hospital for months and by the time he was deemed "well enough," he was thrust into the foster system. At the age of ten, the dark-haired boy had been in six different foster homes.

By the time he turned twelve, the only constant in his life was the soccer ball that he had managed to sneak into every foster home and his best friend: a blue eyed, blonde haired boy the same age as Sasuke who was named Naruto Uzumaki. The blonde boy who seemed to always be smiling, a contrast to Sasuke in every way, had somehow managed to follow Sasuke to the past four foster homes. Their final foster home was a cramped two-bedroom apartment that belonged to the grey-haired police chief of Konoha: Kakashi Hatake.

Maybe it was the fact that Kakashi saw bits of himself in the personalities of the two orphaned boys, or maybe it was a weird sense of duty that Kakashi felt like he owed to the orphans, but a year later he was signing official adoption papers for the two boys.

When Kakashi Hatake agreed to take in the two boys, he hadn't realized that they were such a handful. Between Sasuke's nightmares and fits of depression and Naruto's pranks and anxiety attacks as well as his full time job as police chief, Kakashi Hatake was very busy. However, he managed to make their little family work.  
The small apartment began to feel like home between the soccer practices and pizza nights. Naruto's anxiety began to lessen and Sasuke's episodes began to become more and more infrequent. By the time the two boys were in high school, they had achieved a sense of normalcy that neither had experienced since they had been orphaned. Girls at school fawned over the two adoptive brothers and when Sasuke made it onto the Varsity Soccer team as a first year, girls confessed their undying love to him in the hallways. Naruto, who was also placed on varsity, but only as a benchwarmer, had quite a few admirers to deal with as well.

Years later, when the two boys become men and graduate from the police academy, they go out to eat with Kakashi and spend the dinner in nostalgia, discussing about the stupid pranks Naruto used to pull on Kakashi and the hoards of high school girls that left chocolates and love letters in Sasuke's locker. (They won't talk about the nightmares that still plague Sasuke or the anxiety attacks that overcome Naruto whenever he steps foot into a hospital.)

* * *

"Sasuke, your father would be proud of you," Kakashi declared with a solemn expression on his usually nonchalant face. Naruto looked down as Sasuke looked up to the meet the dark eyes of his guardian. Sasuke was only five when he lost his family, but he could still remember the stern expression that was always presented on his father's face and the need to prove himself as his older brother's equal. When Sasuke had first stepped foot into the apartment of Kakashi Hatake, he had been greeted with a photo of the grey-haired man alongside Sasuke's father and his cousin at Kakashi's own graduation from the police academy. Sasuke didn't believe in fate, but Kakashi did. Sasuke had never been adept to expressing his feelings, but even he couldn't deny that his eyes began to water as his guardian gave him a small smile.

"I need to go to the bathroom," he supplied later in the meal, memories of his family floating to the surface of his consciousness. On his short walk to the door, a petite waitress crashed into him. The girl along with the tray of drinks she had been trying to balance, fall back while Sasuke lost his balance for a second. He sighed in annoyance, but Sasuke still helped the girl stand up. When he managed to look down, he noticed that she has pink hair and familiar green eyes and his world stops for a few seconds.

"Do I know you?" the waitress asked, her voice airy and light as she tilted her wide eyes to meet his.

-I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU-

The world tilts on it's axis.

"I don't think so," he answered pensively, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, and you are?"

"Sakura Haruno," she replied with a kind smile, "I'm sorry-I- you just looked really familiar, but I'm also so sorry I spilled all those drinks on you sir, I'm so sorry-"

"Don't worry, you didn't get any on me, I think they all fell on you. Are you okay? You look like you hit your head." He asked, concern leaking into his normally calm voice. She blushed as she looked down to her soaked uniform and the plastic cups and beer bottles scattered around the wet floor.

"Oh god," she groaned as she bent down to pick up the mess, "I'm such a klutz, that's the second time this week. I'm sure to get it docked from my pay now… and hey, is the room spinning or is it just me?" He bent down to help the girl who was now looking paler and paler by the second.

"You hit your head-" he stopped talking as she bent over to throw up on his shoes.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha groaned again as he sat with the shivering girl in the emergency room of Konoha General Hospital. After the girl had proceeded to throw up on his shoes, he had insisted on bringing her to the emergency room himself (mostly because she was in no form to navigate the subways by herself, but also because he was now a police officer and he was pretty sure that helping young, attractive women not get mugged or pass out on the city streets late at night was somewhere in his job description) and here he was, sitting in an uncomfortable plastic chair next to a complete stranger at midnight on a Tuesday.

"So..." she started, breaking the awkward silence between them, "what's your name?"

"Sasuke." he replied tiredly.

"Nice to meet you," she answered with a bright smile, "I mean, not so nice conditions to meet someone, but still it's a pleasure to make your aquantance! I'm Sakura Haruno, although you probably already know that because of my name tag..." She blushed as she trailed off, suddenly acutely aware that she was rambling. He only nodded his head indicating that he had heard her. Sakura began to fidget as the silence became awkward again.

"You really don't have to stay, I promise I'm feeling a lot better-"

"You threw up after hitting your head, which is a sign of a concussion and you were going to try to use the metro here by yourself while you are soaking wet-"

"-the metro isn't that bad you know-"

"You know what?" He interrupted, turning his head to look at her in the eye, "I'm a police officer so it's my duty to help you and make sure you don't get mugged tonight." He rubbed the back of his neck in frustration and looked at the floor, careful to avoid her gaze. Sasuke Uchiha very rarely was at a loss for words, but this girl was too stubborn for her own good and he really couldn't live with himself if something bad were to happen to her all because he was too lazy to make sure she got home safely. Besides, she was very cute and even he couldn't deny that he was attracted to her.

"How do you know so much about concussions?" she asked thoughtfully after a beat of silence.

"I played soccer in high school and my best friend got them almost every game." He replied.

"Wait, you're the Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you? From Oto Prep?" Her face morphed into an expression of complete fascination and awe as his eyes widened.

"How do you know where I went to high school?" he asked looking at her quizzically.

"You," she laughed, a sound made his stomach flip, "Were all any of the girls talked about! I was a nerd, still am actually, but even over at Leaf High I heard about you! Girls literally skipped class to go to your soccer games! It was insane and especially when your team made it to playoffs, our principle was so mad because she couldn't get anyone to go to our school's games, but people skipped school to see you play!"

"That is insane…" he supplied with wide eyes. So that was why the stadium was always so full, and here he had grown to believe that soccer games were always that popular.

"I can't believe I'm sitting with The Sasuke Uchiha. God, Karin will be so jealous when I tell her..."

"Karin?"

"My roommate, she's been my best friend since we were in diapers! She was also obsessed with you back in high school, she even kept a picture of you in your locker." At this comment, Sasuke's nose crinkled in disgust.

"That's... uncomfortable." he supplied, trying in vain to hide how weird he felt.

"How odd is it that we've never met before?" she mused out loud and he looked at her as she lifted her small hand to her chin, "We grew up in the sme town, you were and probably still are some weird soccer legend throughout the city, and all of my friends went to every one of your playoff games your senior year, but I never went and now I'm working at some chain restaurant and you run into me-"

"-you ran into me-"

"and we start talking and usually I'm not this open with people I've just met, you know? But I'm sitting here in the emergency room with you and it's like-"

"Sakura Haruno? Come in." A nurse called and Sakura blinked. The two didn't move for a minute, contemplating the rosette's words. The stopped for a second as they met each other's eyes and Sasuke had to fight his body's urge to move closer.

"Sakura Haruno?" He blinked as she stood up and marched into the exam room. After a physical and mental exam, the girl was deemed fit to go home tonight but only if her "boyfriend" (Sasuke had glared as the female nurse looked at him) took care of her and made sure she got a lot of rest.

* * *

He had taken the liberty to drive her home that night and even gave her his card in case she needed anything. She had giggled and blushed, but mostly had thanked him and insisted that she was fine and her roommate would definitely be able to help her out. Sasuke knew it was odd and out of character for him, but he felt a sense of fondness for the klutzy girl.

"I really do appreciate how chivalrous you've been all night," she said in the quiet of the car, "Most guys would have gotten mad at me for spilling drinks all over them and then proceed to leave the restaurant in an angry huff, but you really helped me a lot tonight. Thank you."

The "thank you" echoed in the car and Sasuke felt a strange sense of déjà vu overtake him.

"It's fine," he answered after a second, "What you were going to say earlier... about us kind of running in the same circles but never meeting..."

"I know it's silly," she conceded.

"No, I think it's true," he answered, turning his head to look at the street in front of them, "It is weird that we met up like this... all those years that we probably passed by each other on the street"

"Logically speaking, it's very possible we went to the same places and spoke to the same people... but not until tonight did we-"

"Crash into each other?"

"Very funny," the pink-haired girl deadpanned, narrowing her bright-green eyes playfully.

"I mean, it's not everyday some girl throws up on your shoes," he smirked as her face heated up.

"That's not fair and you know how sorry I am!" she whined.

"If you're actually sorry, you'll agree to go to dinner with me next week." her eyes widened as he turned to face her. The streetlights made his skin glow and his eyes looked darker than they had in the fluorescent lighting of the hospital. She gulped as continued to looked at his aristocratic features in the dim glow of the streetlights. She felt her body lean in closer, like an invisible force was pushing her towards him.

The world tilted on it axis again.

"I move to Suna in three days." she stated, regret lacing her voice.

"Aa," he replied enigmatically, "They have a high rate of crime over there..."

"But a good medical school," she agreed halfheartedly. He never let his eyes leave her face even when she turned to look up at her apartment.

"Even if you're in Suna, my offer still stands I'm serious, don't hesitate to call if you need anything. I'm working nights for a while and if you get into any trouble-"

"You like being a knight in shining armor, don't you?" she interrupted, a smirk painted on her lips. He coughed as her eyes narrowed playfully.

"It's not that, it's-"

"Hmm," she interrupted again, tilting her head sideways as she continued to look into his eyes, "High-school me would not believe this, in fact, if I this were five years ago and we were in the same car, I'm pretty sure I would have gotten attacked by your very enthusiastic fan-club…" They were both silent for a few moments, the smirk still on her lips and his neck turning redder and redder by the moment.

"I had a fan-club?" he finally asked in a small voice. Her eyes widened before she bursted into a fit of laughter.

"You must have been really oblivious!" She chortled as her laughter subsided.

That night, he doesn't have nightmares about his family, but instead dreams of infernos and burning flesh.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hi! I'm finally uploading a new chapter on this fic, only three more left! I also changed the name of this fic after a bit of deliberation. I felt like the other title didn't do this work complete justice, but please let me know what you think. I'm thinking about uploading a oneshot, but I'm definitely still editing it. With school starting again updates are going to be really sporadic.

* * *

In this life, Sakura Haruno was born into a family cursed with grand misfortune. Her daily life consisted of working arduously every day but only barely getting by. Her years of education were trying for both her and her young parents. Her inability to focus in class and the way her mind constantly mixed up letters had landed her at the back of her class. Even with the abundance of parent-teacher conferences, the girl could never manage to keep up with the rest of her peers.

Her childhood was a blur of warm smiles from her mother, hearty laughs from her father, and a cloud of poverty that hung over the Haruno household. The small family never had enough money, and while her parents had always managed to get food on the table, extraneous things were never found in their tiny household. Her childhood house, a small building in a working-class neighborhood next to a busy highway, had chipped white paint, a heater that was didn't work and at least two broken windows at all times. To this day, she was still frequented by the scarring memories of the taunting she had ruthlessly received as a child for always having ripped clothing and never having lunch money.

By some stroke of dumb luck, the pink-haired girl had managed to graduate from high school on time.

However, what her family lacked in material wealth, they made up for in an abundance of love.

Birthdays were always happy celebrations filled with smiles and a cake that her parents managed to scrape up enough money for, Christmas was always spent volunteering at the soup kitchen and at orphanages and New Year's Eve called for a voyage out to the city's river to watch the fireworks. Her mother would always pull up her rose-colored hair in an elaborate hairstyle for each celebration and she remembered feeling like the princess of a small kingdom.

Her father died of a heart attack on her eighteenth birthday and gone were the small but joyful celebrations. The girl's other family had slowly dwindled over the years and now she was left with a grief-stricken mother and an elderly grandmother. She had only been on the earth for nineteen years and yet she had already lost one of her most beloved people and had no goals and no hope of ever getting out of the dark hole of hopelessness she inhabited. In her darkest moments, she speculated that her short, miserable life had been a giant mistake.

Each time she began to follow this train of thought, she would force herself to stop.

Her father had always told her that negativity bred more negativity.

At the age of twenty, she worked two jobs, one at a small coffee shop on the bottom floor of a business office and another at a convenience store down the street from her house. When she was younger, she had wanted to go to medical school and become a doctor, but she had long since given up that dream knowing that her academic performance and her family's socioeconomic status wouldn't allow this delusion of hers to come true. Her father's untimely death and her mother descent into nothingness, had engendered her to attempt to support what was left of her small, broken family.

"One medium skinny mocha latte please," Sakura felt her world shift as she looked up to the girl standing in front of her, "Oh, and a sunrise sandwich on wheat bread." Sakura nodded, a polite smile on her face and she began to work on the order. The girl continued to stand at the counter, texting on her phone and twirling a strand of her blonde hair in one hand. Sakura stopped her work for a second to look at the woman in front of her, noticing that the stranger had the most beautiful hair Sakura had ever seen; her own hair, a rosy hue, was frizzy and thick and the short haircut only made her look more like a child. The woman in front of Sakura had silky, platinum blonde hair tied up in a long pony tail that fell in waves and side bangs that framed her sharp face.

"Name for the order?" Sakura asked as she grabbed a styrofoam cup off the rack.

"Ino," the woman replied without looking up from her smartphone. When she looked back, Sakura finally noticed the designer bag hanging off the arm of the blonde woman, as well as a diamond necklace graced upon her elegant neck. The rosette wondered for a moment if this in front of her woman was a model, she certainly was beautiful enough.

Sakura finished the order quickly and efficiently, her mind already preoccupied by the fact that tomorrow was the beginning of the month and bills will be due. The evening was still early, only a little past six, but the sky was dark today due to the impending thunderstorm. The barista cursed as she recalled that she had forgotten to bring an umbrella to work today and she now was subjected to walk in the rain to the metro station.

"Here you go!" Sakura announced as she brought out the sandwich and coffee. The blonde woman finally looked up and Sakura felt her body freeze as she was suddenly struck with an odd feeling of déjà vu. Light blue eyes made contact with her own. Sakura felt like she must know this woman from somewhere-

"Do I know you?" The blonde woman, Ino, asked as she tilted her head. Sakura continued to stare, entrapped by the odd feeling that she should know this woman, but racking her brain and finding no memories.

"Did you go to Sand for high school?" Sakura finally asked, furrowing her eyebrows in thought.

"Nope, Leaf," Ino supplied with a shrug, "Did you go to Konoha University?"

"No, I just graduated high school last year actually." Sakura informed with her own shrug.

"You don't look that young…" Ino trailed off, lost in thought as Sakura blushed at the compliment. Most people who met her still thought she was a first year high-schooler...

"Ino!" Another voice called from across the shop and Sakura turned her head to see the most handsome man she had ever seen in her short existence sitting at a table in the corner. She resisted the overwhelming urge to blush ("that man is so handsome with aristocratic features and his voice had sounded so smooth and-")

"Coming, you impatient asshole," The woman, Ino, replied with a cheeky grin before turning back to the awestruck barista, "Oh well, you look really familiar. Anyway, hope you have a great night, thanks for the coffee and sandwich!" The woman smiled before turning away and for a second Sakura felt so drab and frumpy it was nearly unbearable.

Ino's beauty was almost as unfair as the fact that she went to sit with the unbearably handsome man.

Sakura caught a glimpse of the smirk that he directed at the blonde woman and Sakura was sure that her stomach had filled with butterflies at that moment.

The barista continued her work nonetheless, stealing glances over at the table where Ino talked excitedly and animatedly while the man listened attentively. As time wore on, Sakura began to look more closely at the handsome stranger and out of boredom, cataloging his appearance. He had dark hair that looked soft and fine and even though it was a little mussed it still looked neat. Sakura surveyed the paleness of his skin to be almost white: not a sickly shade the way she had seen on her dying father, but the kind of pale that glowed in the right lighting and made him look ephemeral. The rosette could tell that he was graceful by the way he discretely and casually stole sips of Ino's coffee and his straight but strangely relaxed posture.

Boredom consumed Sakura as the hours wore on and the cafe became less and less crowded.

When the coffee shop closed for the night and Sakura had finished her duties, she was surprised to see the handsome man standing alone by the entrance of the shop, smoking a cigarette. The sky was dark now: the air thick with humidity and the glow from his cigarette made the mysterious and handsome man's skin glow, just like Sakura had suspected.

He looked up when the door to the shop closed and Sakura was confronted by his deep and dark eyes. In middle school, Sakura's friends had always ranted and raved about men that were "tall, dark and handsome" and for the first time in her short life, Sakura understood that saying. As he continued to look at her, she found that her feet had turned to lead and her body was frozen. The feeling of familiarity continued to pound into her chest with such force she began to fear it would knock her onto her back.

-I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU-

"Are you going to walk home in the rain?" he finally asked, breaking the impenetrable silence. Sakura's eyes widened in embarrassment as she realized that she had been staring in awe at the man in front of her for an indefinite amount of time. She tore her eyes away from him only to realize that he was right and it was pouring rain now.

She nodded, not trusting herself to say the right thing. Sakura had been confronted with the undeniable fact that the stranger was even more handsome up close. He had a sharp nose and a defined jawline that she had only seen on models in fashion magazines.

"Here, take it," he supplied, handing her a small umbrella, "I have someone coming to pick me up and you need it more than I do."

"Thank you," she managed to squeak out as their hands brushed.

"Do I know you?" he asked as she turned to leave.

"I don't-" she stopped herself, turning back around to face him again. Their eyes made contact and she found herself comparing the color of his dark iris's to the color of the night sky. The pitter patter of the rain offered background noise as her thoughts ran rampant in her mind.

"You look so familiar," he continued, realizing that she was struggling for an answer, "It's really strange, I've never had this strong of a sense of deja vu."

"I'm sorry," she murmured with a small, sad smile, "I don't think we've met before." No matter how disappointing, it was true.

"I must be going crazy..." he muttered to himself as headlights from a car illuminated the man's face. There was a small moment that passed before she spoke again.

"You- um- you don't have to give me your umbrella, I'll be okay I just have to walk to the metro station a few blocks away-"

"Like I said," he answered as he dropped his cigarette and proceeded to crush it with his shoe, "my friend is picking me up, I really don't need it and you obviously do. Just take the damn umbrella." He suddenly turned to look at her with such intensity she felt her world stop.

Her bright green eyes widened as he leaned in, his eyebrows furrowing and a small frown pulling down his lips.

She felt the world tilt on it's axis.

The moment was broken as a car puled up in front of the small coffee shop and honked. He pulled back quick and sharp, like something had burned him and she exhaled in a breath of air she wasn't aware she had been holding.

"Thank you!" she yelled as he opened the passenger side door. He looked up to meet her eyes again, giving her a small smile, before ducking his head into the car.

Her world was a little brighter after that rainy day and although he never came back to the café again she still kept that black umbrella for years to come.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I'm back? also this wasn't beta'd and I don't really like the way this chapter turned out... but a little gift for yall :)

* * *

Green eyes, bloodshot and glassy with tears, stare up at him with longing, desperation, fear and…something else. (Can it be unselfish, all-consuming love?)

The details of the scene fade in and out. The smell of smoke is heavy in the air and the cacophony of nearby explosions leaves his earrs ringing. He wants to stop this and every thought running through his mind tells him to grab her and run.

His heart is heavy in his chest as he tries to move but he finds his feet glued to the hardwood floor.

"Please don't do this Sasuke!" Her voice is light and high pitched, and he feels the familiarity of her presence wash over him, but as quickly as that feeling visits him, the next moment he's left with a chill that seeps into his bones.

She's begging him, he realizes.

She's on her knees in front of him, out of the corner of his eye he can see her hands grasped tightly together, but the details fade out when he looks back into her eyes. He can't figure out what he face or hair looks like: small details that would tell him who this girl is as why she's so upset.

He doesn't know who she is, but his chest hurts as tears continue to roll down her cheeks.

"You can come back and we can be happy, I pro-" Red-hot flames engulf the world around him. He feels his skin melting off as the scortching fire engulfs him. He can hear the girl's horrifying screams and he wants to help. He wants to stop-

"Sasuke!" Hands grip his bare shoulders and he feels like he's suffocating. The room is too hot, the air too thick- "Sasuke wake up!"

His eyes fly open and he's met with the sight of bright red hair standing out among the dim and dull lighting of the dark bedroom. Her wide and worried eyes find his and in that moment he realizes he is tightly gripping her shoulders, his knuckles white, as the sound of his strangled breaths finally reaches his ears. She winces.

"Sasuke please let go," she breathes, her wide eyes never leaving his and her tone cautious. Her fear is palpable, but he pretends to not acknowledge the emotion she is struggling to hide as he relaxes his grip. Her bare shoulders are bright red and the faint outline of his fingers is visible even in the dim light. He turns his head to the clock on the bedsides table, only to cringe as he reads the bright red numbers: 04:12.

"I'm sorry Karin," he whispers, his eyes downcast. Shame eats at his consciousness and the woman above him relaxes.

"It's that dream again," she starts softly settling herself into a sitting position on top of his torso, "The one you've been having every night. You start screaming, yelling for someone, thrashing in the bed…" As she trails off, Sasuke tries to replay the blurred images in his mind. He can't remember anything more than the image of flames eating at everything and everyone around him.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to wake you up. I told you, I've always had bad nightmares… ever since I was a kid." His statement is soft and apologetic. Guilt still eats away at him, nibbling at his heart making his chest hurt. He wants to show this woman he loves that he's so sorry, but he still can't bring himself to look at her properly and see the bruises that are beginning to stain her porcelain skin.

"How often do these nightmares come Sasuke? I've only started staying over the past month…" He doesn't want to look at her, but he forces his eyes to move and meet her own. His eyes are dull, but a small flash of pain, regret and something else shine in the deep dark depths of obsidian before they return to the eyes she has grown to love.

"They started happening more often after that incident with the bus," he starts, trying to find the right words, "I saw that girl in the middle of the street and she was staring at me. She looked at me like I was a ghost… She wasn't even looking at the oncoming traffic, she just stood in the middle of the street staring at me with these really green, haunted-looking eyes. God I can't get that look out of my head. And then a bus runs straight through her and she doesn't even flinch… I told you, it was like something out of a horror movie. I saw her body bend so unnaturally and I felt the air leave my lungs. I couldn't even move or scream or call for help. I just watched and I think that's why I can't get that image out of my head."

"There wasn't anything you could do…"

"She was staring at me Karin, like she knew me or something and for this second I thought I knew her too."

"What do you mean Sasuke?"

"I went home that night, after going to the emergency room, and I went through all of my yearbooks and googled her name over and over because I could have sworn I knew her from somewhere. She was so familiar, it was so strange."

"But you didn't know her, did you?"

"No, but now every time I close my eyes and try to sleep, all I see is that girl with pink hair-"

"You're dreaming about that day?"

He wants to say yes, to calm his girlfriend's worries, but he isn't dreaming about that day. In his dreams, it's fire that consumes the girl. She begs and begs but this horrible inferno always burns her body and kills her slowly and painfully. The worst part is that he knows somehow, that this is his fault: the fire and the bus are beginning to consume him like the fire consumes the girl.

"It's fire: fire consumes her right in front of my eyes." He states slowly and deliberately.


	5. Chapter 5

"Such a pretty young couple," a voice croaks from a darkened alleyway and he stops walking, leaving her to turn around in confusion. The full moon lit up her pale face in white light and he met her eyes as his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Sasuke?" she ventured, squeezing his hand and sending him a gentle look of confusion. The night was silent with no footfalls or distant sounds to permeate the air and a sudden chill ran through him-

"Just married?" the voice crooned and out from the alley stepped a wirey women. Her face was kind and the laugh lines and sun spots only made her appear more endearing, like a grandmother.

"Oh, hi ma'm," Sakura cheerily responded, always making an effort to be friendly to strangers, but Sasuke only looked on, his eyes narrowing and his jaw clenched.

"I rarely see so much love between two people," the woman continued, almost ignoring Sakura's greeting and instead focusing on Sasuke. He was tense, a pit of dread was bubbling in his stomach and the night air was suddenly cold.

"Who are you?" he snapped suddenly irrationally irritated with this woman. Sakura tugged on his arm, a sign of warning, but he ignored her protest and looked at the woman with disdain.

"How rude of you to look at me like that? And here I was, about to grant you two such good fortunes. After all that you have been through, I thought it would be fair for the other lives you will live, but-"

"What are you talking about?" this time it was Sakura with a steely voice and hard eyes.

"Be quiet girl!" The woman commanded and Sakura felt like she had lost her voice. She tugged on Sasuke's arm with desperation as she tried to yell, but nothing came out of her mouth except a breath of frustrated air. The air became thick and Sasuke felt very clearly that something very bad was about to happen.

"Who are you?" he asked, his voice even but strong as anger began to course through his veins.

"I can feel the heat, the anger, in you boy," she continued, ignoring his question, "You are an Uchiha through and through. Do you know why the Uchiha have an affinity with fire?" Sasuke nodded his head and gripped Sakura's hand.

"We-"

"Your clan is cursed to attempt to wield the most volatile of elements. You believe you can tame fire? The Uchiha's are a prideful clan, but what do you perceive to be your biggest curse?" Sasuke stayed silent as the woman paused. Sakura's grip on his arm was beginning to hurt, but his body felt heavy, too heavy to move away, "You, dear boy, are cursed in many ways. The curse of your clan, the curse of hate, the curse of tragedy... I could go on but I think dear boy, you are beginning to feel the hatred inside of you come to life as I speak." At these words, the woman began to laugh, an eerie sound that caused goosebumps to break out on Sasuke's arms. Sakura whipped her head to look at Sasuke.

"Go away you old hag! You know nothing about me!" Sasuke spat out, the anger inside of him beginning to boil over into his voice. At his words, the woman only began to laugh louder. Sasuke, suddenly overcome with fear and desperation moved towards the old woman with rage burning in his heart.

The moment he went to grab her hand, he found his body frozen.

"Sasuke Uchiha," the woman spoke, her voice deeper and somber, "You dare attack me? And here I was doing you a favor, helping out a man who doesn't deserve a shred of happiness after the sins and crimes against humanity he has committed-"

"You don't know the first thing about Sasuke!" Sakura's voice came out raspy and soft, but the anger was still audible.

"Shut up, you insolent girl!" The woman whispered and again, Sakura's voice was gone, "Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha, you two are bonded together through indisputable forces, a match made from the start of time. However, there are crimes and actions that I cannot forgive. There are people that do not deserve redemption. You will leave this life in the flames you attempt to control, a fitting death for a murderer and his partner, and your souls will be cursed to never connect again. Sasuke and Sakura Uchiha, everything you love will incinerate."

* * *

4.

There's a boy named Sasuke with dark hair and dark eyes and pale skin that grows up with a doting mother, a kind older brother and a stern but loving father. He is part of a prominent clan (his mother explains that prominent means important) and his father is the head of this clan and is a Very Important Man and Sasuke should be proud to be his son even if his father is never home to tuck him into bed. Sasuke knows that his father loves their small little family, but it still makes him sad whenever his father is not home for dinner.

Still, Sasuke has a wonderful childhood: he comes home from school every afternoon to cut up tomatoes and his mother's warm smile and lets his brother tell him bedtime stories every night before bed. He studies hard in school and is the top of his class in every subject, but making friends is one of the only things he doesn't excel at and his lack of a social life worries his mother. Sasuke, however, prefers to spend his free time with his older brother reading.

The backyard of Sasuke's house sits along a small forest at the edge of Konoha, their hometown. The forest is filled with running trails and natural springs as well as wild animals. On Saturdays, Sasuke and his mom will take long walks in the morning before the heat becomes unbearable. The forest is a place of serenity and calm, a drastic contrast to the big city that the Uchiha's live in and the corporate world the governs their family.

In his eleventh year of life, on a warm night in March, his mother and father host a family reunion. The air is warm and dry, but dark clouds hang in the sky. An odd sense of dread washes over Sasuke as soon as he steps outside into their family's backyard. Despite the merry atmosphere that his extended family emits, there is an eeriness that irks the young boy. Sasuke looks at the forest behind his family's house and sees something that shouldn't be there: a person hiding in the shadows that the trees cast.

"Itachi, look," he says, desperately pointing to the trees with wide eyes, but his older brother just smiles and continues to talk to his cousins. No one else notices the person standing in the foliage of the forest with red eyes that practically glow in the darkness.

"Sasuke, if you want to, you can go into the forest for a little bit. Just make sure you're back in time for dinner so mother doesn't' get upset, okay?" Sasuke nods at his brother, an expression of wonder on his face as he walks away from his family.

He takes deliberate steps into the forest.

He doesn't walk out of the forest for three years.

* * *

His mother, with more wrinkles outling her delicate face, looks out of the window in the kitchen one morning, only to see a body lying on the edge of the forest. The dark hair and ruffled clothes (that look so much like her missing son) make her rub her eyes and blink before her face morphs into an expression of confusion. She drops the plate she's holding and the pieces shatter throughout the kitchen.

She runs out of the backdoor.

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha returns home one summer morning three years after disappearing into the forest. He is still wearing the same clothes he was wearing at his family's reunion, but his hair is longer, his face leaner and his body is taller. His mother finds him asleep, his legs curled into his chest and his hair wet with dew, on the grass that sits between the forest's edge at the Uchiha's backyard.

The years following are intertwining whirlwinds of confusion and doctor's appointments and meetings with phychiatrists. The famous Sasuke Uchiha, the boy who came back, doesn't remember the three years he spent spirited away: a national phenomenon the country has become engrossed with. The elders of his family claim that spirits took him, while his parents fear that he was kidnapped and the memories are so horrible they're been repressed, and Sasuke is left with a blank period in his brain.

The Uchiha family spent three years looking for their son: sending out search parties, posting flyers, doing everything they could and now that he's back, the cracks in the foundation of their family are growing wider and wider and Itachi knows that soon they will fall apart.

Times wears on, never stopping, and Sasuke grows up. There are things that the Uchiha family hides: The scars on Sasuke's abdomen, the antidepressants Mikoto takes in the morning, the late nights Fugaka works and the noticeable silence that surrounds the mansion. The grounds are kept up by a loyal staff, but even the most beautiful flowers can't replace the lack of warmth that the occupants emit.

Sasuke goes back to school years after he returns. Behind by a few years, but a determined student, he quickly rises to the top of his class, but there is something, an aura he emits, that keeps away his classmates. He doesn't like small talk, never has, and this trait makes it hard for any of his classmates to strike up a conversation. His mother doesn't allow him to participate in outdoor sports so he spends his physical education periods in the archery classroom with only two other students. The sport itself is a quiet affair and the other two archers are introverted, so Sasuke is always grateful for the silence that the practice period gives him. There are girls that find him attractive and he has found one too many love notes stuffed into his locker, but Sasuke doesn't respond to any of them, not out of malice, but mostly out of embarrassment. None the less, this action only seems to encourage more love letters and cause an increase of animosity from his male classmates.

Sasuke vividly dreams every night when he closes his eyes. He dreams of other lives his soul has lived, or perhaps is living right now: a police man, a lawyer, a soldier, a ninja, a hero and a villain. His dreams are rarely anything but depressing snippets of a life only half lived. He is constantly overwhelmed by a sadness that permeates into every part of his day and makes it difficult for him to get out of bed every morning.

Mikoto calls it depression, but Itachi, as he always has, understands his little brother.

Sasuke joins the school newspaper his final year of high school due to insistent urging from his mother to get involved. The club is small, only four other members besides himself. The students are odd and Sasuke often spends his time writing columns on tedious matters (like the changing lunch menu or the school festival) but somehow he finds that he enjoys the tougher stories, the mysteries he has to solve.

"You know," Ino, a blonde girl in his grade that spends almost every second of her free time painting her nails,"On days like these, I wish our school had more mysteries and scandals. Like I don't care who was sucking face with below the bleachers-"

"Weren't you just talking about Neji and Tenten sucking face underneath the bleachers?" Shikamaru drawls with a smirk.

"Irrelevant-" She shouts before continuing, "Like things that are illegal or mysteries!"

"You just want to be Nancy Drew!" Chouji adds before opening a bag of potato chips.

"I do not! You two are so mean! That is what I get for being the only girl on this paper!" With a huff, she turns back to her computer and scowls.

"There are no mysteries here, the last interesting thing to happen in Konoha was when this guy-" Shikamaru points to Sasuke who is reading a book at his desk,"-disappeared and then reappeared. You could write a story about him!" Sasuke looks up from his book and scowls at Shikamaru who just shrugs in response.

"I decline." Sasuke states, his face in a grimace, before he turns back to his book. Chouji laughs before eating another potato chip and Ino's face reddens.

"A mystery?" Kakashi, the club sponsor, asks as he looks up from his computer.

"No," Sasuke answers not bothering to look up form his book, "There are no mysteries here."

"I know of a mystery for you all to immerse yourselves in!" Kakashi is smiling as he grabs their attention.

"What is it?" Ino perks up and the rest of the boys raise their head and look at their teacher.

"Did you know? Sasuke wasn't the first boy to go missing in those woods," he starts and Sasuke finds his eyes widening as Ino gasps, "There was a girl, a few years before, but-"

"But?" Ino asks, genuine curiosity in her voice.

"-when she came back form the woods, she had lost her mind."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke carefully asks, his voice quiet and his eyes narrowed.

"The rumors were that she claimed she had gone to another world full of ninjas and chakra, all nonsense of course, but she couldn't grasp that what she had seen were mere delusions," Kakashi's voice was sad as he continued, "She was only eleven at the time and her parents thought it was temporary psychosis, but as time wore on, it became clear that the poor girl has lost her mind. She tried to climb up walls, throw knives and-

Goosebumps break out on Sasuke's skin as his teacher keeps talking.

"-eventually, she locked herself in a shed in her backyard one evening and lit it on fire. She would have been rescued, but..."

"But?" Sasuke whispers, a chill running down his spine.

"But there was a tank of gas and the shed exploded. Her parents were devastated: moved away a month after."

A flurry of motion from Ino makes the other occupants of the room turn her way as she types on her computer.

"Oh my god," Ino whispers as her body freezes with her eyes fixed on the computer screen in front of her. Sasuke Chouji and Shikamaru rush to see the computer screen and- "I knew her." Ino whispers again, her hands covering her mouth and Sasuke feels the air leave his lungs-

-I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU I KNOW YOU-

"Sakura Haruno," Kakashi announced from the front of the classroom with a melancholic expression on his normally placid face, "that was her name. My parents were good friends with her parents and they owned that bakery on 2nd street. She was a very smart girl, i think the top student in her class at the time. It was all very sad. I'm surprised none of you know about it, she was the same age as you all."

A picture of a girl with strawberry blonde, almost pink, hair stares back at him and Sasuke feels sick as memories overcome him-

 _-"If you were to stay here with me, there would be no regrets"-_

and he runs to the bathroom and vomits until he's dry heaving and tears are rolling down his face.

Sasuke dreams of infernos and burnt flesh that night.

* * *

Sasuke will join the police force and after years of searching, will find his passion with the missing person's division. He will spend the rest of his life rescuing numerous children from kidnappings. He will find joy when he returns the children to their loving families, but the image of green eyes and pink hair will haunts his dreams every night until the day he dies.


End file.
